Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter

The story is based around the urban legend surrounding the death of Takako Konishi. It was reported in the media that she had died trying to find the treasure depicted in the 1996 film Fargo. In actuality, she committed suicide.

Kumiko is a mentally ill twenty-nine year old office lady who lives in utter solitude in Tokyo. She works a dreadful, dead-end job under a boss she hates, is intimidated by her well-off peers, and nagged by her overbearing mother to find a man and get married. The only joys in her life come from her pet rabbit, Bunzo, and a VHS copy of the film Fargo, which she found in a secluded cave on the shore.

Convinced the film is based on a true story, Kumiko obsesses over a scene in which a character buries a satchel of ransom money along a snowy highway and begins taking notes while watching the worn-out tape, even attempted to steal (unsuccessfully) a atlas from a library only to be caught by the security guard, who pities her and allows her to steal the page on Minnesota from the book.

With the threat of a young hire usurping her position at work and increasing pressure from her unsympathetic mother to return home, Kumiko abandons Bunzo on a train and boards a plane to Minneapolis using her boss’s company card. With a hand-stitched treasure map and a quixotic spirit, Kumiko embarks on a journey over the Pacific and through the frozen Minnesota plains to find the purported fortune. Once there, she quickly finds herself unprepared for the harsh winter, having a weak grasp of English, and, with the card cancelled, lacking funds. She is picked up by an old lady, but sneaks off when the lady tries to convince her to stay at her home.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is ar American drama film co-written and directed by David Zellner. The film stars Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Shirley Venard, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, and Kanako Higashi.